LONDON (UPI) - A senior official
working for the British government's special committee monitoring the impact
of "mad cow" disease claims anti-aging creams containing cattle
parts could have triggered the human form of the disease.

Dr. Hilary Pickles of the government's Bovine Spongiform
Encephalopathy Committee was particularly concerned that people could become
infected if the creams were used on broken skin, the Times of London reported
Tuesday. The news report said the finding was new evidence from the overall
national BSE inquiry.

Despite senior government scientists raising concerns
over the risk to "ladies...rubbing cow brain or placenta on to their
faces," no action was taken because of fears that the public might
panic, the Times reported.

The committee reportedly felt there were other beauty
products posing a risk, but those products remained in use. The other products
included "exotica" anti-wrinkle cosmetics and collagen made from
offal to create fuller lips.

According to the Times, concerns were so great that Dr.
Pickles called for a complete ban on using any bovine offal in the manufacture
of cosmetic products. Pickles reportedly also raised fears about the risk
to cosmetic industry workers who were regularly in contact with the products.

But the government issued no public warning. Cosmetic
companies, however, have been urged against using products from British
cattle.